The Influence Of Virtual Reality On Our Development And Behaviors

For my examination of the problem inside psychology, I am choosing to argue cyber psychology. I wanted to focus on the study of the human mind and behavior and how the culture of technology, specifically, virtual reality, and social media affect them. In today’s modern society we need to ask ourselves a new question, how does the influence of the digital world change how we perceive ourselves and persuade us to do certain things in and out of digital platforms. In this paper, I will challenge the influence that virtual reality, more specifically video games, has on our development and behaviors. Furthermore, I want to express my personal belief that through physical social interactions the subtleties and details of these interactions persuade people to do things or think a particular way. The virtual world does not show us who we are and we do not have an innate moral code, it is our interactions and experiences that help mold us and give us a glimpse of who we could be which continuously influences our decisions.

There is the old saying “monkey see, monkey do” which implies that your behavior is an effect of the behavior observed. This ties into the social learning theory that children learn through observing, mimicking or adopting behaviors which is the sole base of the theory that links exposure to violence in the media with aggression and violent behavior in youths. So is this to say with every violent movie, video game or virtual world interaction, children of all ages are one step closer to being prone to violence? Or is it the already existent chemical imbalance that influences these irrational behaviors? Does the witnessing of these online violent actions push them over the edge they were already skimming? If everything was learned from observing or mimicking, then why are some people Olympic athletes and others spectators? I believe learning comes from practice, from guidance and from actual physical interactions instilled in us through our guardians or role models. It is often reiterated that correlation does not imply causation so why are we so quick to link aggression with video games rather than the influence of a quick tempered adult or instability in moods due to lack of serotonin?

Stimulus Importance

In George Herbert Mead’s Mind, Self, and Society he talks about how “The self” is created through symbolic exchange, and as an individual we become aware of ourselves as an object (Mead, 1934). There is nothing symbolic about online interactions, you are staring at a screen responding to an icon. There is no physical contact, no emotional stimulus being exchanged, nothing to signify the actual importance this exchange has on the development of your future behavior. When you log on, there is a certain disassociation you have with the actual version of yourself. Whereas, in the non-digital world these social interactions stem from our family, friends, and other affiliations we choose to associate ourselves with. Therefore, as we take in others’ perspectives of themselves, we learn our own identity by internalizing others’ attitudes. Can you get a grasp on the sort of person someone is instant messaging constantly? No. You must meet them in person, get a feel on their reactions to certain things and their responses to others.

Non Digital and Digital

The identity that people form between the non-digital and digital world must be divided into two separate contexts, the “I” (non-digital) and “me” (digital). These two facets originated from Mead who classified them as the “I” being “the response of the organism to the attitudes of the others, and the “me” which is the organized set of attitudes of others which one himself assumes” (Mead 1934). So, to further clarify the “I” represents how a person was raised and influenced through interactions with family and peers. Whereas the “me” exemplifies the interactions people associate and identify with within the digital world. This touches on the dissociations I mentioned above. When we log online, it is a different version of ourselves, a façade that does not leak into our personal life. By splitting identity into two separate parts, it accounts for the more personal and unique interactions that we capture in the non-digital, as well as, showing the shared aspects of ourselves in which we display who we strive to be online in the digital. So when logging on to this violent game, it is really just an escape from your real world problems. A mental break from the hectic life around us, a glimpse into the world we will never get to lead but gives us a sense of relief.

Environmental and Mental Influences

However, let’s say that you are raised in a violent household and also play violent video games. Does this mean you will turn out to be violent in the future? This is more likely than solely basing future violence off of video games. From birth, our parents instill in us certain characteristics, beliefs and morals that stick with us into adulthood. We are not born with innate world views but are taught them. You may play video games that slap women around but your mother always told you to respect women and be chivalrous. These video games do not define the person playing them. Rather, it is how they process the violence and move forward that does. Moreover, there are personality traits that might be most likely to make an individual act and think aggressively after playing a violent video game. Dr. Patrick Markey of Villanova University and Dr. Charlotte Markey of Rutgers University found that high neuroticism, low agreeableness and low levels of consciousness are linked to future violent behaviors. Neuroticism can come from the physical interactions between peers I mentioned above, i.e.; sexual abuse or emotional neglect. For example, growing up you did not get the care needed for your proper development; therefore, neuroticism was instilled in your personality traits and triggered by the video game but the video game did not cause the violence itself. The violence stemmed from a deeper trait learned from your environment. The same can be said with low agreeableness and low levels of consciousness. Agreeableness is a personality trait manifesting itself in individual behavioral characteristics that are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm, and considerate, where do these characteristics come from? Through the lessons taught to us as children such as, sharing in first grade, manners in second grade and general social skills in third. We pick up these characteristics as we grow and interact with different people and different cultures. Lastly, consciousness is the state of being aware. Are you in tune with those around you? Were you taught empathy or are you blind to the feelings of those around you. This is another building block of personality that should be taught and managed. People who are diagnosed with the above disorders can be high functioning in society, it takes time to learn the triggers and how to react properly in certain situations. Look around, there are so many different personalities in the world and most of these personalities resemble those who raised them or the environment they were surrounded by during adolescence. If behavior was not learned, we were all be the same, have more or less the same ideals and morals rather than all the controversial debates that fill the world these days.

Possible Solution

In my opinion, in order fix the problem of imminent violence, we must first begin with how we raise our children. I believe if parents were more attentive to the behavior traits children show at a young age and took the time out to properly guide them, the risk of low consciousness, low agreeableness and high neuroticism would decrease. I do not believe there is an issue to the violent video games or movies so long as the people playing them understand the concept of the virtual world and that the norms in those games are not the norms for society. You cannot go around running people over and shooting people for the fun of it as shown in GTA. If those common morals are instilled properly in the developing mind, I believe these video games would have no effect on their future actions.

Conclusions

In conclusion, behavioral traits are learned and can be molded to fit society’s norms. I do believe in fun and games and that is what these video games consist of. It is a way for some to disconnect and to enter a different reality for a bit but that does not mean they will pick up the traits their character in the game may have. By ten and eleven years old, we know what is right and what is wrong and are able to make decisions off of that. So as long as your environment was safe and educational, you should not be at risk for future violence. However, those surrounded by abuse and neglect may not be so lucky. But lets’ not forget that correlation does not imply causation so just because a man who plays GTA also beats his wife, does not mean that it is a direct result of the video game but rather that we allow the violence to influence and corrupt our basic human character.